For my money the next big Democratic primary to focus on is Donna Edwards' campaign against seven-term incumbent Albert Wynn of Maryland's fourth district, which is set to take place on September 12th. With the election just two weeks away, Edwards could really use a push from the netroots.
For all of the fanfare given to the virtual two-way primary race between Democrats Kweisi Mfume and Ben Cardin which will take place on the same day, MD-04 has all the makings of a big-time upset in a season of many anti-incumbent upsets. A Donna Edwards victory would be a big-time upset in a battle featuring a very progressive, very populist challenger over an egocentric, arrogant incumbent who often votes with Republicans and hails from a solidly Democratic area. Sound familiar?
More on Edwards, and how we can make a difference, in extended.
(First off, I feel I should note that I'm not in any way affiliated with the Edwards campaign. I'm merely an interested party who has followed this race since learning of Edwards' intent and feel it should be getting more play than even, say, the Ciro Rodriguez / Henry Cueller primary because MD-04 is much more solidly Democratic than the mixed TX-28 district was.)
Locally, the press is starting to sniff its nose at the possible upset brweing in MD-04. The Washington Post featured Edwards and another local House challenger on the front page, below the fold this past Sunday. Edwards has begun to close the financial gap somewhat. According to PoliticalMoneyLine, Edwards' COH was at just under $100k to Wynn's ~$415k at the end of June. While that might not seem like a terribly great amount, Edwards has raised more than any other House challenger in the state.
I can tell you, though, that the Edwards campaign has generated the majority of its buzz after this point. July and August have really been when her campaign has kicked into high gear. She's starting to get a lot more press and is starting to get her name out there in all parts of the fourth.
While Wynn hasn't been embraced by Bush, Wynn's voting record shows an embrace of the priorities of the Bush administration: the Iraq war, the Bankruptcy bill, Terri Schiavo legislation, the Bush-Cheney energy bill, net neutrality, gutting the Endangered Species Act and the repeal of the estate tax. Wynn has more recently allowed Republican Senate candidate and current Lt. Gov. Michael Steele's staff to pass out literature during events hosted by the Wynn campaign. Wynn has been able to do all of these things because of his perceived power over the residents of the fourth district. He believes he has the fourth district in his pocket, that his House seat should be used as he sees fit only and that any effort to hold him accountable for his votes will fail. What is at stake in this race? A truly representative Democrat.
As Donna Edwards told the WaPo in this past Sunday's edition:
"We can't take back the House and have people [like Wynn] undermining Nancy Pelosi and her progressive leadership," Edwards said in an interview, referring to the House minority leader. "No matter what, Maryland's 4th District will have a Democrat. It will just have a real one with me."
The flaw in the Wynn machine strategy is that the district has changed. Four years ago, MD-04 was comprised of primarily African-American and other minorities of Prince George's County. But then came redistricting, with MD-04 absorbing parts of Montgomery County including Olney, White Oak and Germantown. In these newly-added areas, Wynn has much less name recognition and much less of a positive favorability. The demographics are a bit more upscale, more educated and more white.
Let me give you another idea of how progressive MD-04 is. Back in the 2004 general election, Wynn received two challengers, a Republican and a Green. The Green candidate, Theresa Dudley, received 4.5% of the vote. That performace was the fifth best performace by a Green candidate running for the House during the '04 elections, according to MyDD.
Matt Stoller aptly notes the following in his post over at MyDD titled 'The Other, Tougher Lamont Campaign, in MD-04':
One could argue that Wynn is actually worse than Lieberman, because while Lieberman panders to the right and has to answer to the press in some form or fashion, Wynn is owned by the right and flourishes in silence. While Lieberman spreads unseemly rumors about his opponent, Wynn's staffers have actually beaten up supporters of his opponent. With a much less transparent political culture than Connecticut, Maryland is harder to penetrate. And that makes Wynn even more entrenched than Lieberman was, and harder to understand. Unlike Lieberman, his power is predicated on being ignored as he channels corporate money to his political allies, as opposed to being high profile on Sunday shows. While Lieberman was the leader of the Bourbons, Wynn is the silent corruptor.
His opponent is someone of deep courage and conviction, Donna Edwards. Donna has a long track record as a progressive activist, and she's managed to patch together a workable campaign without the self-financing capacity of a Lamont or the genius of a Tom Swan. She has gotten some traction because she destroyed Wynn in the debate, and the press has finally done reporting on her challenge. It's stunning though, that even though several Wynn staffers were detained for violently attacking an Edwards volunteer, the press hasn't really looked into Wynn or his campaign manager, nor has the press discussed Wynn's record and allowed the voters a way to understand it and hold him accountable. That's starting to change, but like the Lamont race, this is a seriously entrenched incumbent. By the way, for any intrepid reporters out there, take a look at Wynn's campaign manager.
Presumably, what Stoller is getting at is what The New MoCo Progressive recently pointed out. Wynn's campaign manager is Darius White. But, as the post shows, White was recently listed as a case manager on Wynn's congressional staff, raising questions of possible violations of the Hatch act. (White's name has since been erased and replaced on Wynn's House staff page.) The Wynn's office denies anything of the sort, saying that White is "on a temporary leave of absence." Also curious is that Wynn doesn't list a campaign headquarters in his official filings, and instead lists his congressional office in DC. Wynn hasn't even got a campaign website either. (There has also been speculation that White was one of the two men involved in the recent attack against an Edwards staffer. My research is inconclusive. There is a YouTube video of the two Wynn supporters involved here and the only image I've seen of White is from an AFP article here.)
Which brings me to examine more closely Wynn's challenger, Donna Edwards. Edwards is a truly committed progressive Democrat. She is the executive director of DC-based Arca Foundation, whose grants have "focused on empowering citizens to help shape public policy." (People-power politics, in essence.) Before her work for The Arca Foundation, she co-founded the National Network to End Domestic Violence, a policy advocacy group who helped bring about the passage of 1994's Violence Against Women Act. On the issues, she supports net neutrality, a smart national security approach (including withdrawal from Iraq), single-payer health care, affordable prescription drugs, Congressional voting rights for DC, public financing of campaigns and a sustainable energy policy. Edwards has the endorsements of Clean Water Action, Progressive Chevely, TrueMajorityPAC, WAND PAC, the Sierra Club, ACORN PAC, Future PAC, the League of Conservation Voters, Progressive Democrats of America, NOW PAC and more.
For more of an insight on Edwards' character, listen to her recent interview on WTOP. The interview begins approximately 15 minutes into the file.
Recently, State Rep. Justin Ross told the Gazette:
"Albert's got that seat as long as he wants it. No one's ever gonna defeat Al Wynn."
This is true
only to the extent that the opposition isn't mobilized and supported by the community. Wynn is yet another example of an incumbent who has drifted more and more from those who brought him to power and the values and issues that they care about.
That's where we can make a huge difference in proving the CW of Justin Ross and others wrong.
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